ART AND THE MAGIC SQUARE, PART V

USING THE 27X27 MAGIC SQUARE AS A TEMPLATE

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

The Magic Square and Chinese Talismans

This Chinese Talisman (approx. 2,000 years old) demonstrates the use of the Luo Shu Magic Square as a template for Chinese ritual talismans. The square and the circle represent earth and Heaven, female and male, yin and yang.

The Luo Shu model was commonly incorporated in the fabrication of TLV Bronze mirrors and the Chinese bi disc, as well as the Ming Tang temple.

This is also the ground plan for early Byzantine church design known as the quincunx or cross in square design. Leonardo da Vinci (church drawings), Brammante (St. Peter's Basilica), and Placidio (Villa Capri) used this design and were probably influenced by Luca Pacioli.

There exists a school of thought that supports an influence of Chinese iconograpahy and cosmology (divining and the Yi Jing) with early Christian art and architecture.